Week 5 – Genesis 1-3 and Revelaton 22: Paradise Regained

By: Matt Barnes

Print Week 5 Devotional

Introduction

Genesis 3 ends without much hope.  Sure, there’s a prophecy of sorts in Genesis 3.15 about the head of the serpent being crushed and God provides proper clothing for Adam and Even in Genesis 3.21.  But God still banished the first humans from the Garden of Eden and protected the entrance to the garden with flaming swords brandished by heavenly creatures (Genesis 3.23-24)!

So the reader of the Bible is presented with a real dilemma – what’s going to happen to humanity, not to mention the rest of creation?  In Genesis 1-2 everything was going so well!  God created everything and said that it was very good!  Then in Genesis 2 we see how the first humans enjoyed a right relationship with God, with one another, and with the created order.  But it was the disobedience in Genesis 3 that messed things up.

The reader has to wonder – what will God do?  How will he reconcile all that has gone wrong?

Jump forward from the Garden of Eden to the garden-city revealed in Revelation 22, New Jerusalem, and we see that all the broken relationships have been reconciled!  But how?  How was this amazing feat accomplished?

In order for the perfection of the Garden of Eden to be made new in the garden-city of New Jerusalem, God’s plan had to go through the Garden of Gethsemane.  Gethsemane was the garden in which Jesus spent his last moments of earthly freedom praying with his friends before he was falsely arrested and crucified the next day.

But the content of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is important.  To paraphrase from Matthew 26, Jesus says, “Father if there’s another way for my mission to be accomplished, then let’s do that; yet not my will, but your will be done.”  Jesus, though fully God, was also fully man.  And as such he knew that he had a great amount of suffering and pain ahead of him.  But despite this reality, Jesus chose the cross.  He embraced it.  He obeyed the will of the Father no matter the cost!

“Science and engineering rely on truth and problem solving.  You cannot shortcut your quest for truth if you want to succeed.  The same should be true when reading the Bible.””

- Joe Stehly, Aerospace Engineer

Bible Questions

• Read Genesis 1-2 and then Revelation 22.  Note all the language from Genesis 1-2 that is echoed in Revelation 22.  Why do you think God would include these connections between the very beginning and the culmination of human history?
• One major similarity between the two passages is that both contain the tree of life.  Look especially at Revelation 22.2.  Why is the number 12 significant and what might it point to?  And is it important that the word "the nations" is used?
• We read in Revelation 22.3 that there will no longer be any curse.  To what does this refer?  And why does it matter that in our eternal home there will be no more curse?
• In the beginning God said "Let there be light" and there was light.  But there was night also.  In Revelation 22.5 we read that there will no need for lamps or the sun since God himself is the source of light.  Why isn't night mentioned in Revelation 22?  Is its omission important?
• Talk about what hope means.  How do you define it?  How can you live life in light of it?  When you start to lose it, where do you find it again?

Reflection Questions

• How does Revelation 22.1-6 impact how you feel about God?  Does the fact that he is preparing a perfectly-reconciled place for us create in you an increased desire to worship God?  Why or why not?
• We do not yet live in the paradise that will be regained and as a result life can be quite challenging at times.  How can we as Christians be there for one another as we exist in this in-between-the-gardens time?
• How do you think someone who has yet to follow Jesus might hear Revelation 22.1-6?  Will it seem like pie in the sky do you think?  How might you respond to this sentiment?

Take Away

God is going to make all things new!  That doesn’t mean that he isn’t going to work on all of us in the meantime.  Commit to surrendering areas of your life that are in need of revival to the renewing work of the Spirit, trusting that he will do with you what he wishes for the sake of the kingdom.

"Thanks to studying science, I now approach the Bible with an attempt to see differing viewpoints and with the knowledge that the Truth might not be immediately apparent."

- Jessica DeWitt, PhD Candidate in Neurobilology